The Next Chapter: A Little Iditarod Background Before the Big Start!

The best way to describe the Iditarod Sled Dog Race is to let the Iditarod Committee do it themselves:

"You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world! A race over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska. It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won worldwide acclaim and interest. German, Spanish, British, Japanese and American film crews have covered the event. Journalists from outdoor magazines, adventure magazines, newspapers and wire services flock to Anchorage and Nome to record the excitement. It’s not just a dog sled race, it’s a race in which unique men and woman compete. Mushers enter from all walks of life. Fishermen, lawyers, doctors, miners, artists, natives, Canadians, Swiss, French and others; men and women each with their own story, each with their own reasons for going the distance. It’s a race organized and run primarily by volunteers, thousands of volunteers, men and women, students and village residents. They man headquarters at Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome and Wasilla. They fly volunteers, veterinarians, dog food and supplies. They act as checkers, coordinators, and family supporters of each musher. " - http://www.iditarod.com/

The race started as a labor of love to commemorate the saving of an entire town. The trail itself originally served as a mail/shipping route from Seward on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula up into the interior of Alaska to mining camps and villages like Ruby, Unalakleet, Golovin, White Mountain and Nome to name a few. Mail and supplies went in and gold came out! In 1925 tragedy struck and a diptheria outbreak threatened to wipe out the entire town of Nome, on the Bering Sea Coast. They didn't have enough serum to treat the entire town. At that time, the Bering Sea was frozen over and transporting medicine via ship was impossible and air travel into the bush wasn't established. The serum was brought in by several teams of fearless dogs and their mushers. In the late 1920's, not long after the serum run, airplane became the primary means of transportation into interior Alaska and the trail started to fall into disrepair. By the 1960's barely anyone remembered there was even a trail there. Dorothy Page and Joe Reddington are credited with taking the initiative to revive the trail and start the tradition of the race. The race doesn't follow the exact route that the serum run did, but it is a commemorative act that was first run competatively in 1973. There are 2 routes, they run the northern route in even years and the southern route in odd years.

As my last post stated, every year there is a ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage for fans to come out and cheer on their favorite mushers without driving north to the official start in Willow, AK. It is a carnival like atmosphere, fun and lighthearted. The next day all that changes. Willow is a sleepy, tiny town about an hour north of Anchorage. Every year the Iditarod participants and their crowd of suporters and fans gather

on Willow Lake for the official race start.

It is from here that they travel some 1049 to Nome. Just them and their dogs. All mushers start out with 16 dogs, they must have at least 5 to officially cross the finish line. There is a $4000 entry fee for each musher, with a purse totaling more than $510,000. It has taken anywhere from almost 9 days to 31 days for mushers to complete the race. Some camp along the course with their dogs, others choose to rest at checkpoints. They all train their dogs differently and feed them different diets (of which the exact ingredients are guarded closely). Along with their sled and 16 dogs the following are the "required items" each musher must have.

Lance Mackey's sled ready to go.

Rule 16 -- Mandatory Items: A musher must have with him/her at all times the following items:

• Proper cold weather sleeping bag weighing a minimum of 5 lbs.
• Ax, to weigh a minimum of 1-3/4 lbs., handle to be at least 22” long.
• One operational pair of snowshoes with bindings, each snowshoe to be at least 252 square inches in size.
• Any promotional material provided by the ITC.
• Eight booties for each dog in the sled or in use.
• One operational cooker and pot capable of boiling at least three (3) gallons of water at one time.
• Veterinarian notebook, to be presented to the veterinarian at each checkpoint.
• An adequate amount of fuel to bring three (3) gallons of water to a boil.
• Cable gang line or cable tie out capable of securing dog team.
When leaving a checkpoint adequate emergency dog food must be on the sled. (This will be carried in addition to what you carry for routine feeding and snacking.)

I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like alot of "mandatory" items to have to take. Notice that list says nothing about mandatory food for the musher? A new option this year was a GPS. The mushers all have trackers on their sleds and the dogs are microchipped for safety, but carrying a personal GPS to help them navigate has been illegal until this year. The mushers themselves are split on whether this should be allowed. Lance Mackey refused to carry one stating that he didn't need elecgronics to tell him how his dogs are doing and where he's going. Interesting.
See complete race rules here: http://www.iditarod.com/pdfs/2011/rules.pdf

**Here I will interject a personal observation and opinion. The race has gotten quite a bit of flack and criticism from animal rights groups like PETA over the years. I honestly didn't know how I would feel about it, because as you all know my dogs are family to me. They are treated as members of my family. It is the way that I grew up watching my parents care for our animals. They are loved, hugged, kissed and spoiled regularly. Let me just say that if anyone would spend time watching these dogs and the way their mushers and handlers treat them alot of this propaganda would disappear. These animals WANT to run. It is in their blood, they were born to do it. The excitement in the corral area was palpable. Dogs pulling at their lines, fussing, barking and itching to get going. I wish I had taken video, but sadly my camera is SLR so no dice. The mushers have to actually hold the dogs back at times because they want to move forward TOO much. The dogs look at the mushers with adoration, like they would do anything asked of them and give any musher the chance to talk about their dogs and they will tell you that this is all about the animals and the bonds that they are able to form with them. Most of these mushers have had their dogs since birth, others are rescues. The dogs are checked out by vetrinarians within a week of the race and then again at every check point along the race. If an animal is not fit to continue then the dog is dropped at the check point and flown back to Anchorage. Many times mushers will pull a dog from the line on the trail and zip them into their sled with their heads sticking out until they can get them safely to a checkpoint where they can be treated (if necessary) and sent home. These animals are taken care of, and respected...they are most certainly loved, hugged, kissed and spoiled regularly! IT IS ALL ABOUT THE DOGS. With the VIP passes the Mom and Jackie had (and luckily myself) I was able to get up close and personal and see all the pre-race prep from the front row.

Sled dogs being removed from the travel trailer, secured and snacked (generally with frozen salmon) prior to the race start.

DeeDee Jonrowe's line stretched out and locked down with the hook. You can see the lead lines that the clip in to the dogs harnesses.

Speaking of DeeDee here she is...incidently wearing a hat handmade by a lady from Unalakleet. The yarn is spun from 50% wool and 50% shedded sleg dog undercoat hair. She was selling them at the craft fair in Nome for $275. I have enough sled dog undercoat floating around my house to make a pant suit. Apparently I need to start saving dog hair and spinning on my loom!